Deque Systems (/ˈdkj/ DEE-kew) is a digital accessibility company based in Herndon, Virginia with additional offices in Kavuri Hills Madhapur, Hyderabad India and Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Deque Systems
Company typePrivate Company
IndustryWeb Accessibility
HeadquartersHerndon, VA
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Preety Kumar (CEO)
Websitewww.deque.com

History

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The CEO of Deque Systems is Preety Kumar.[1]

The company was started in 1999 and produces accessibility testing software in addition to offering accessibility consulting services and training.[2]

In June, 2015 Deque open-sourced the accessibility rules engine axe-core.[3]

In May 2020, the WorldSpace brand name was retired and replaced by axe for each of Deque's products.[4]

In September 2020, Deque found that the majority of vote by mail applications were inaccessible, and fixed them for the 2020 Presidential Election.[5][6][7][8]

Products

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Deque tools, services and training are used to achieve compliance in support of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,[9] the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 508, the European Accessibility Act, and EN 301 549.[10]

Deque University is a collection of online accessibility training courses covering a range of topics from introductory level to expert-level International Association of Accessibility Professionals CPACC.[11]

Axe Tools

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axe is a suite of accessibility testing tools for HTML, Android, and iOS applications. Each product in the axe toolkit is powered by the open source rules engine axe-core.[12][13]

Products within the axe suite include: axe Devtools, axe Monitor and axe Auditor.

References

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  1. ^ "Deque Systems Software Announces Disruptive Web Technology for Disabled Customers - WashingtonExec". 13 July 2012.
  2. ^ SCHWARZ", "ALAN. "Forbes' Accessibility 100 List 2025: Innovation in Accessibility". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  3. ^ "Accessibility Testing Goes Open Source and Mainstream".
  4. ^ "Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos". Yahoo! News.
  5. ^ "Digital vote-by-mail applications in most states are inaccessible to people with disabilities – TechCrunch". October 2020.
  6. ^ "Absentee Ballot Applications Are Not Accessible to Voters with Disabilities in 43 States". Time. 30 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Ballot Applications in 43 States Inaccessible to Voters With Disabilities". Business Insider.
  8. ^ "Audit found 43 states' mail-in ballot applications are not accessible for people with disabilities |". The Hill. 30 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List".
  10. ^ https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/03.02.01_60/en_301549v030201p.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ "AccessibilityAssociation".
  12. ^ "aXe: An Open Source JavaScript Library for Automating Accessibility Testing – WP Tavern". March 2016.
  13. ^ "Microsoft and Deque make accessibility easy for millions of developers | Windows Central". 9 July 2019.